Italian drug man on dole in Lancashire

A convicted drugs trafficker with links to the Italian mafia has been living in a flat above a Lancashire off-licence while claiming housing benefit and Jobseeker’s Allowance.

Giuseppe Persico was previously on the run from the Italian authorities for drugs offences and was convicted of drugs trafficking in November 2008 when he was extradited to Italy.

Gennaro Panzuto

It is understood he served a three-year jail term there, but returned to his old haunts in Chorley on his release and has been living on benefits.

Sources say he even sought assistance from the Help the Homeless charity in Chorley. He hit the headlines five years ago when his links to the notorious Naples mafia, the Camorra, emerged.

When the Evening Post caught up with Persico, he denied ever being a member of the mafia and claimed the Italian authorities had jailed him with no evidence.

He said: “I’m trying to live a normal life. I am not a member of the mafia. If I was a member of the mafia I would have money.

“There’s a simple explanation. I was born in Naples where there are a lot of people in the mafia and if you are ever seen talking to anyone in a bar, they think you are too.”

He admitted he had previously been arrested, in 1997, but would not say why.

Persico previously lived and worked in Chorley for two years while on the run.

He had been working with a removals firm in Adlington, and had lived in Geoffrey Street and Eaves Lane.

He was a regular in the Bretherton Arms in the town.

But in 2007, police swooped on him at Faro airport in Portugal and extradited him to Italy, where he was jailed for drugs trafficking.

It came 18 months after a mafia don, Gennaro Panzuto, was extradited from Lancashire on behalf of the Italian authorities.

Panzuto then turned into a supergrass, confessing to involvement in mafia murders and naming other members.

He had been living a secret life in Cock Robin Lane, Catterall, near Garstang, with his wife and children.

In one conversation, Persico told the Evening Post he had no links to Panzuto, but then called him a “grass”.

Then in a second phone call Persico admitted: “I had met him once. He asked me to act as his interpreter so he could rent a house. I was living near him at the time. I tried for a couple of days then I had enough.

“I didn’t know him in Naples.”

Persico claims on his release from prison in Rome in November 2011 he returned to the UK because he had a girlfriend in Lancashire.

A few months ago the 37-year-old, who is now single, moved to a flat above Stump Lane Stores on Stump Lane, an ordinary looking street of terrace homes, where he lived alone.

But his attempts at clean living did not last long – four weeks ago he fled the property and his landlord alleges he left an unpaid £900 rent bill behind him.

When asked why he returned to Lancashire with no job, no means to support himself and no family here he joked: “I like the weather.”

As Persico has served his sentence and is an EU citizen he is entitled to live in England and claim benefits, regardless of his mafia links.

Today outraged Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle said he would be taking the matter up with the Foreign Secretary.

He said: “Quite rightly this is what brings membership of the EU into question in people’s minds.

“First of all what is he doing in the country, why is he allowed in, is he a risk to people? What we do know is that many taxpayers will be asking why they are paying for a citizen from overseas with alleged mafia links to claim benefits.

“I will be writing to the Foreign Secretary and expressing concerns with the minister responsible.”

Previously a friend of Persico’s told the Evening Post he had scars from gunshots and stab wounds all over his body and still had open wounds when he first came to Lancashire in 2007 – but Persico denied ever having been shot.

His landlord, who did not wish to be named, told the Evening Post he had met Persico a few years ago while drinking in the Bretherton Arms on nearby Eaves Lane.

He said: “I knew he had been wanted by the Italian authorities previously but that he had returned.

“As far as I know he had no job and was receiving benefits towards his rent.

“He did pay at first but he has not paid the last couple of months and he basically did a runner, owing £900.”

A worker at Stump Lane Stores, beneath the flat, said Persico used to go into the shop to collect his post as he did not have a post box.

He said: “He lived here for about four months but left about a month ago.

“He used to come in to get his post but did not seem bothered about it. He had a letter from TV Licensing but he just ripped it up and threw it away.”

Persico had registered his name on the electoral role.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: “ We are not currently investigating Persico”.

A spokesman from the Help the Homeless charity in Chorley, said he could not confirm he had been helped by the charity and said individual cases could not be discussed.

Coun Peter Wilson, Deputy Leader of Chorley Council, said: “We cannot give any information about whether an individual has or is claiming benefits because it is personal information that we cannot disclose.

“In terms of the process of administering housing and/or council tax benefit we do not check any criminal wanted lists or ask any questions relating to convictions, which is standard procedure across all local authorities.”

However, an Evening Post source said Persico had been claiming housing benefit from the council towards the cost of his accommodation.

In order to be eligible for these benefits, a person is usually on another benefit like Jobseeker’s Allowance.

The Department for Work and Pensions would not confirm if they had given Persico Jobseeker’s Allowance.

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

Lancashire Evening Post provides news, events and sport features from the Preston area. For the best up to date information relating to Preston and the surrounding areas visit us at Lancashire Evening Post regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website Lancashire Evening Post requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.